#the visual department of this is SO GOOD. I LOVE ME A GOOD SYMBOLISM ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!!!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

byleranalysis · 1 year

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You’re saying lightning is massive and then say st has a bigger budget than the avengers? 😂 one of the highest grossing films out there which you can google by the way there’s at least 4 avenger films in the top 10 including the most recent Spider-Man which all falls under marvel not to mention Disney links funding more money. Sorry but not buying st has a bigger budget with that one. Your biased shows highly too. Are we supposed to ignore the words spoken by characters? M said he loves E not w

The first Avengers has a budget lower than Stranger Things four. I was picking movies that are quite popular/people would recognize. I don’t like Marvel a whole lot if I am being honest.

Also… what am I supposed to feel by your words? Oh no! A marvel movie where a majority of the shots are CGI has a more expensive budget! Yeah? Budget is great. It plays into making each shot right and the creativity in being able to execute such. Disney will fire PA’s in an instant because they climb a ladder wrong, etc (happened to one of my friends rip). They are that specific with how sets are run because so much has to be right to get the frame you want (also safety/disney doesn’t like to be sued lol).

However, if I asked you who DP’d on those movies could you tell me? I know! Not because I am better or whatever but because I like to know who was in charge of the lighting department. Actually let’s take a look at that. Do you even know about the different departments on set? Let me remind you that this argument is about how looking deeper into shot composition is not looking into nothing. It’s literally why film is such an amazing medium. It’s visual. You can make every frame a painting! To think there is nothing deeper to them is like reading a classic book and saying there is no symbolism or figurative speech.

But let’s talk The Avengers. Cinematography Seamus McGarey in an interview he did— talks about his other work he has done aside from Avengers. It’s clearly obvious that lighting is used to heighten the audiences emotions and increase the subtext about the narrative. Note also: the camera is inherently incorporated in how he achieved these looks and feel.

Also— guess what? You talk about google? Why don’t you look up how importance visuals are in film or simply how they work.

Secondly, don’t trust the dialogue! You’re absolutely correct 👍🏻 It’s a “show, don’t tell medium”. While dialogue is important, it should be used to further understand the characters or provide depth that would otherwise not be known to the audience via visuals.

Wasn’t even trying to argue ships. I was simply explaining how shots are not just done for the aesthetic. There are millions of dollars being thrown on screen and to say there is no depth to such is throwing away the visual storytelling that is inherent to Stranger Things. Hell! The Duffers loved Spielberg growing up…

“The most amazing thing for me is that every single person who sees a movie, not necessarily one of my movies, brings a whole set of unique experiences. Now, through careful manipulation and good storytelling, you can get everybody to clap at the same time, to hopefully laugh at the same time, and to be afraid at the same time” - Spielberg.

If a movie or show has every made you cry, laugh, feel happy, or inspired— it’s from carefully manipulative things like lighting, shot type, etc, along with good storytelling.

I find it interesting that many are split about the monologue when the duffers have almost always been spot on with how the audience feels during a specific scene.

I feel every shot, every camera move, every frame, and the way you frame something and the choice of lens, I see all those things are really important on every shot. - Roger Deakins (easily the best cinematography… ever imo).

“The director of photography visualizes the picture purely from a photographic point of view, as determined by lights and the mood of the individual sequences and scenes. In other words, how to use angles, set-ups, lights, and camera as a means to tell the story” - John Alton

We disagree. Deal with it.

#cinematography #byler cinematography #byler #stranger things

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wildelydawn · 2 years

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For the ask game: 🥺, 🛒 + ⛔?

Hope u have a good day!<3

Sun. ☀🖤🖤🖤

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Any time a character who is quiet by nature or has very little dialogue chooses to stay quiet. There are moments I write Kim as saying nothing and I want him to say things but it canonically doesn't make sense for him to do that, so it makes me frustrated and upset. I want that boy to talk.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

The visual passing of time is a reoccurring symbol that I usually include. In I'll Ignite For You, Kim's always aware of the clock and then the inevitable note that has Porchay's departing flight information on it. Another common trope is putting characters in small spaces that force them to interact. In II4Y, it's a small studio apartment. In And if You Don't Believe Me..., it's Kim's bathroom. In my half abandoned Merlin fic, it's Merlin's office. It's cruel but I love it.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

Ahhh so many, especially for KP/Merlin. I had one with Porsche being a cam star when he becomes a bodyguard for Kinn. As in, he he puts on a mask, calls himself the Phoenix (he's always rising, badumtiss) and puts on sexual shows for his viewers. He gets hired as a bodyguard, and Kinn has previously watched his shows, finds out who he is, and a game of cat/mouse/blackmail goes from there. However, I struggle with writing Kinn and Porsche's voices... so that's been tabled for quite some time now.

But I don't like calling them scraps; they're more in limbo WIPs. One day... confidence will come hah.

Thank you for sending these <3 I hope your day is lovely!

Send me an emoji!

#ask #answered #ask game #Sun <3 #II4Y #KimChay #KinnPorsche #myfics #my fics

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sommniac · 3 years

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a theory about ‘deja vu’ by dreamcatcher

I first heard of Dreamcatcher in 2019 after the release of Piri. I’ve always been an avid fan of rock music and was intrigued by a girl group that had a discography renown for that very genre. It wasn’t hard for me to fall in love with them. My first regular (read: non-Japanese) comeback with them was Deja Vu. Unfortunately, it would also be Handong’s last comeback until this year. In honor of her return and her birthday, I have decided to honor Deja Vu with a theory that I’ve been sitting on for the last two years.

My theory is heavily based on the Dreamcatcher cinematic universe so I’ll go over it quickly for those who are unfamiliar. The girls all used to attend a boarding school but, one day, Jiu found a spider in the woods and captured it. The other girls, namely Yoohyeon, tormented the poor creature. And then odd things started happening. The spider turned out to be a witch who transported them into a sort of parallel universe where they existed on the physical plane as ghosts only. They all escaped when they stole a book from a ghost hunter and trapped him in the other world in their stead. Alas, their freedom was short lived as the witch hunted them down. To escape, they had to sacrifice and abandon one girl: Yoohyeon. She then haunted them through their nightmares, possessed by the spirit of the witch.

Deja Vu is a peek into her head.

youtube

Note: Every single gif is from @7nsomnia at https://7nsomnia.tumblr.com/tagged/mv%3A+deja+vu. She has a lot of really good dreamcatcher mv gifs and I would highly recommend checking her out :)

The music video open with Yoohyeon approaching a dais and the throne atop it. She sits down and closes her eyes, allowing thick black smoke to entirely engulf her. This represents her entering the mindscape we’re about to view.

The following lyrics match the idea I presented in my intro: that Yoohyeon is hurt because of her friends’ betrayals. “Far away through the dense fog / The far path I departed on only left hurtful marks / Even as I try to grasp the ends of the dream eventually, longer and longer, / I fall asleep in a deep silence.” In the context of this video, these words seem to describe Yoohyeon’s initial reaction to being abandoned. She’s just sad and confused, trying to process her newfound loneliness in this “dense fog.” She’s starting the deja vu process, reliving the pain that initially plagued her. We get a visual depiction of this in the next scene.

Yoohyeon seems to see Jiu as a symbol of her betrayal and the blonde girl appears multiple times in this way. This is likely due to her blaming Jiu for catching the spider that cursed them. In this scene, we witness Yoohyeon lying on the floor, staring at Jiu who’s leveling a sword at her. In Yoohyeon’s eyes, we see nothing but confusion and sadness as one of her closest friends so brazenly double crosses her. Once again, the lyrics reflect Yoohyeon’s emotions. She laments that “It grows more painful every day,” lending credence to the theory that everything she’s witnessing is repetitive, part of a groundhog’s day type loop.

The betrayal scene is broken up by a recreation of the last supper, the girls all standing at a table filled with food. Jiu stands next to Yoohyeon, just as Judas sat next to Jesus.

Between this moment and the next chorus, the lyrics only further develop this regret and sadness. “Oh Deja Vu Oh Deja Vu Oh Deja Vu” kicks off the chorus, the repetition of the words “Deja Vu” reinforcing the idea that this is happening over and over again. The rest of the chorus is filled with pain and a desire for change to what had previously happened. The next verse elaborates on this further: “I want these moments to all be false / I hope these are passing delusions / If through wet tears, / through belated regrets / If only I could return, return yeah.”

Again, at the start of the prechorus, Jiu raises her rapier to point at Yoohyeon over the same lyrics. However, there are some very noticeable deviations from the first time. It can be assumed that this betrayal is taking place numerous cycles later as the castle is comparatively decrepit. Banners are stripped from the rods they hung from, the window behind them has been entirely removed, columns are collapsed, and vines twist over the dais, reclaiming the now defunct palace for nature. Looking to the girls themselves, the differences are even more prominent.

For starters, the two have switched places. Where Yoohyeon once laid, Jiu stands in a fluffy, light pink gown. A flower crown adorns her curls. This is a stark difference from her all black dress in the first cycle. Yoohyeon has changed even more. She now dons the black outfit Jiu had forgone, replacing her pure white ballgown. Her crown is gone and she no longer cowers on the floor. Instead she kneels, back straight, gaze unwavering. She is no longer afraid of betrayal, instead expecting it and facing it head on.

Yoohyeon is encircled by her friends, looking around in what seems to be confusion. They all stare at her coldly and fade in and out of existence, implying one of two things. One, that she sees them when they aren’t really there. Two, she’s actually watching them appear and disappear and this represents how she saw them all abandon her repeatedly. Both of these interpretations connect to my theory, that she’s in a mindscape created by the spider witch and she is hallucinating everything happening: her friends abandonment of her over and over and over again.

Yoohyeon lies in a coffin lined with blue roses at Jiu points her sword at her. Then, the roles are reversed and Jiu is the one lying in the coffin with Yoohyeon leveling the rapier. Blue roses have several meanings, including unattainableness and manipulation. In this scenario, they could be referencing how Yoohyeon is being manipulated by the spider witch into believing she could never amicably reunite with her friends. Instead, she must kill them for revenge. This position change references something later in the video (I’ll explain further once we get there). It shows Yoohyeon taking the power from Jiu, becoming the antagonist rather than the victim. No longer is Jiu the one who betrays Yoohyeon, instead Yoohyeon is crossing her before she has the chance.

Once again, we watch all of Yoohyeon’s friends vanish. It’s a cruel reminder that she’s all alone.

This scene offers a continuation of the second chorus. Jiu releases her sword, letting it clatter on the floor, handle pointed to Yoohyeon. She then turns and runs, seemingly afraid of Yoohyeon. And not for no reason. The other girl immediately snatches it up and chases after Jiu, seemingly intent on killing. This is where the coffin scene sees relevance once again as the roles reverse. The naive, scared girl that Yoohyeon once was has been replaced by a cold hearted ruthless queen.

At the end, we get to see what the world really looks like. As Yoohyeon has been trapped in her own mind, reliving the same moment over and over again, the once beautiful castle around her has crumbled to nothingness, time eroding every inch of it until there was nothin left. And Yoohyeon sits above it all, queen of destruction and rubble.

But despite the ruins, Yoohyeon sees none of it. The video ends with her sitting on her throne in a mostly intact palace, implying that she is still trapped in that mindscape that has tortured her so, suffering from eternal deja vu.

——————————————————————————————-

Happy Birthday Dongie!!! I love you sm and I’m so glad you’re back and I’m ecstatic you can celebrate your birthday with your members again!!!!!!!!!! <3

#dreamcatcher #deja vu #dreamcatcher kpop #yoohyeon #jiu #happy birthday handong #ily #i am never setting a deadline again this was so stressful #who decided to add a picture limit to tumblr #that one gif of the girls disappearing and reappearing around yoohyeon refuses to work and i dont know why

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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S4 Ep 39: Pharaoh Can Fly (Selectively)

Guys, they’re back

Best storyboarder is back, and the visual difference between last episode and this episode is like when your art teacher picks up your charcoal and just fixes everything wrong with your gesture drawings. It’s like...I mean look at this:

I just really love and appreciate how illustrative this storyboarder is. And I say just storyboarder because this had about the same budget as the last episode--there wasn’t that much actual animation as per usual. But, all of the scenes were drawn so well, like panels out of a good manga. They just...they always nail it when they’re at the helm and I don’t know why they’re on Yugioh, but bless this storyboarder.

Plot wise, everyone got pulled into the dragon by gooey tentacles that came out of it’s stomach, don’t think about it.

Meanwhile, all of the minibosses could communicate with them and beg for help, yes, even the same miniboss who may have dressed up like Pegasus and catfished Seto Kaiba.

(keep reading under the cut)

The whole process of getting absorbed into the Orichalcos demon was a whole lot of symbolism and it was...kinda gross. Also kinda sketch. Also, for Kaiba it is a neat little nod to S1 when he had a vision that his brother was absorbed into a dragon mass.

I don’t think that the makers of the show remember S1, but either they just really like goopy dragons, or it’s a coincidence or I dunno, on purpose? Probably a coincidence.

And like I made this joke and realized...what if they actually meant to make that parallel though? This is the America crossover season, and they have referenced America’s love of trickster rabbits before with Pegasus but do they know about Br’er rabbit in Japan? Do they know? It’s a pretty Americana Deep-cut, and I have no idea how common this folktale is outside of the states.

I see anime busting out absorbing goopy masses all the time so I’m gonna assume that there might be a Japanese folklore I don’t know about which uses a similar structure (although I’m also assuming it has an extremely different history and association ((which I won’t be going into because I don’t feel like putting a trigger warning on this recap)).)

And looking at Wikipedia, there’s people that think the original reference to moist, absorbing creatures could have even come from as far as India. Which is...fascinating to how it also developed in Africa, and then the Cherokee also made the same story independently and then it fused together here in the States to make it what was eventually made into a Disney movie that will never be released again--this is just a really old ass story, all in all, possibly like over a thousand years old.

And a FASCINATING google deep dive I won’t go into for obvious reasons but knock yourself out.

Also, lets get distracted for a sec and see how well this storyboarder drew a fitted jacket at that angle. Dear Lord, did they get reference for that or did their brain just already know that those folds would be there? You can even tell that Pharaoh has just a little bit of padding at his shoulders. Ugh. Guys this storyboarder is so freakin good at these little fitted jackets.

So, once Yugi and his friends are absorbed into the mass, where they should have died...and maybe some of them did, but I don’t know if I should add that to the Death Count because like...they could have held their breath in the amount of time they were stuck in there...maybe...Anyway, they are saved by being tossed into the figurative briar patch--by the souls all hanging out in the Leviathan’s stomach--which again makes me wonder...did they pull a folklore on us? Again, I have no idea.

Like a lot of the people in this dragon have been thorns in their side this entire season, they’ve all tried to kill them at one point--all the minibosses, Mai, Pegasus--but now they have decided to team up with Pharaoh (along with the rest of the human race) and offer whatever they can to free them from the grip of the gross dragon mass.

And like, the ending of the folk tale is that the thorny ass briar patch is also where the rabbit lives usually. It hurts everyone else, but the rabbit--the rabbit can deal with it. And likewise, Pharaoh is freakin dead. He’s at home here. He’s surrounded by spirit power, his friends and their friendship power, this is like his zone, and now he’s crazy powerful for it and will be for the rest of the episode.

And like Yami is a very trickster God (especially Season Zero Yami) so like...it does make sense that he would mirror a folk tale based on trickster Gods, even if it is by complete accident.

So Pharaoh imagines everyone’s tears as individual drops in a glass or something--it’s not a literal glass or anything--it’s just there because the only thing actually happening on screen was his hand hanging out of this dragon’s weird puss skin.

And he’s now a fully charged Sonic the Hedgehog and no longer needs Kaiba or Joey at all. Just gonna grab his God card demons and take charge of everything else from here on out.

By first exploding his buddies right the hell out of this lizard and across hundreds of feet of open ocean.

Joey decides to remind Kaiba that he lost the Battle City tournament.

Seto’s roast was actually in the show, PS. He is not super excited to be reminded that Yugi owns every card that he spent 2 seasons failing to get.

And then Pharaoh did something really, really...

...just really really wild.

OH OK.

YEAH JUST TAKE OFF.

GO AHEAD THERE’S NO REASON THIS WOULD BOTHER ME.

I mean he IS super powered right now but like...

Like...WTF?

4 SEASONS. 4 SEASONS I thought this guy was glued to Yugi like Peter Pan’s Shadow and apparently--he can bounce.

Can Pharaoh do this every time Yugi asks Tea out on a date and tries to instead make the ghost in his head do all the work now? Can Pharaoh just be like “NOPE” and then phase out of the house, leaving Yugi to actually do the hard stuff?

It really adds a level of complexity to their relationship if Yugi can get a room.

(If not a room for romance, but at the very least a room to poop in.)

OR has he been able to allow Yugi to wicked poop in peace this whole time, but the show just never felt like telling us because they felt like it wasn’t important (although it is crazy important)?

Either way I am just...floored at this character development.

Yami just let Yugi out of his sight for like...I want to say 8 full minutes. Just incredible amount of trust on Yami’s part. Incredible. Knowing Yugi’s track record, he should have died in those 8 minutes but...he was being babysat by both Kaiba and Joey.

So Yami summons the Gods and they shoot lasers--you kinda expect this sort of thing.

And this is...probably...the real reason why Dartz didn’t bother trying to attack Pharaoh 5,000 years ago.

I can still think it’s because of Bakura but like...this is probably the real reason. It felt pretty chump to just shoot a laser at the bastard. Pharaoh just had to be reminded that this is a thing he can just do. If he felt like it.

Which he never feels like doing, because he’s too busy watching Yugi’s every move, and getting distracted by High School shenanigans.

After this happens, the giant snake falls to the ocean, splitting into just sooooooo many ghosts.

Over 7.8 billion ghosts, if we’re to assume that this is most of the population on Earth.

(thinking the weird-o in the hat is probably a Duel Monsters card? The duel monsters were throwing themselves into the Leviathan at one point so this is probably like a dark magician boy or something...I just don’t get very attached to the monster cards so it was like...whatever. The cards die like constantly so who cares?)

It is a pretty set dressing. Like Christmas lights but...dead people.

We also find out that the lost family of our minibosses Alister and Raphael, have indeed spent the last many years inside the Leviathan stomach, which is pretty tragic. We get a bitter sweet conclusion to Alister and Raphael’s story--although it’s not a full on ending for either character. Their life still hella sucks, they are in therapy for basically forever.

Where is Gurimo?

I don’t know what sort of job or life these two are qualified to have now, but youknow...Marik’s boat probably has jobs available.

Hold up. Can we talk about the windows?

I know absolutely none of you care about this, but I do, not to be picky or condescending to an overworked art team, but because I just want to know what they were trying to aim for.

There’s an iron stained glass style windowpane thing going on and that’s what’s really getting me. Like...I know these guys were technologically advanced, but why did you use this WW2 background? What happened to Ancient Greece that you were doing before?

Like doing a super past with future tech is so cool to me--I love that sort of concept art. That’s going into like Black Panther stuff where you’re referencing the earliest stuff in Africa and then blending it with stuff beyond our science. But Atlantis is a real big shrug and a “listen we ran out of time and had to press print,” and it’s such a shame. It feels less cohesive than even when this show does Egypt.

And yo this show and how it draws ancient Egypt--I feel like I’ve already talked about that. I have a feeling I’m going to talk a lot more about it next season. I’ll get to it when we get to it. I’m hoping that they have more time and budget to actually DO Egypt for once. (I say knowing they won’t)

Like it’s one of those things where this isn’t a history show, like at all, and it’s very much a fantasy. I’m not going to be like those sewing people on youtube that get annoyed because their TV show doesn’t have handsewn stitching in their Victorian bodices they rented from the costume department from an LA discount warehouse. Because, yo, it’s TV, and I can stretch my own imagination because it’s acting. (although I confess, I watch every single one of those videos).

But...the potential, y’all...the potential.

Anyway, Dartz isn’t dead. He was just taking his toot sweet time getting down the steps of his Gazebo.

This is where things get very anime. I get this problem a lot with anime, I really do--and maybe it’s just me. But like...sometimes it feels like anime changes the rules during the boss fight.

That happens a lot, right? Where suddenly the final boss reveals something that like...should have been addressed way earlier? And he’s alive but you don’t get why?

Anyway, Pharaoh reacts by getting maybe way too attached to his newfound independence.

Which like...I can understand Tea forgetting that Yugi is one people that is two people all the time, but the writers as well?

And what’s kind of great about this scene is that Dartz does see Yugi as two people here. He doesn’t look at Yugi, he looks at both. When Pharaoh is like “Leave me, Yugi!” Dartz heard all of that.

Just kind of a neat thing that we finally have a dude that can just...see Pharaoh for what he is, but it probably won’t matter because there’s like only one more episode left of this season.

Anyway, Pharaoh and Dartz have a chat about where evil comes from...and like...it’s some Yugioh lore, all right.

So before the show decides to give us the Genesis on Yugioh and reveal where the evil of the Orichalcos comes from, or if all evil was created by Orichalcos itself (which is IMPLYING stuff about Orichalcos) the snake shuts him the hell up.

As it should. Leave that Pandora’s box freakin closed. That’s going into extended universe of Star Wars books territory (RIP.)

As an aside--pretty sure that Yugi is standing outside that tornado. Maybe it was just the editing of the episode but like...

Yo I’m pretty sure Yugi is just standing there. For the first time, it’s not his nuts getting roasted. Wow. Tables have turned so much since he was dead.

Anyway, here’s the link for new people so you can read these in order

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

There’s only one left! We can do it! We can finish this season in 2020! And actually get back to recapping Full Metal Alchemist! ~~Woooo~~

Oh man that movie better still be on Netflix or I’ll have to buy it lolol.

#Yugioh #ygo #Yu-Gi-Oh #Yami Yugi #Yugi Muto #Seto Kaiba #Joey Wheeler #Dartz #Alister #Raphael #Valon #Mai Valentine #My favorite storyboarder #who deserves to be listed as a character in the show #ep 39 #S4 #recap #photo recap #episode recap

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dreamnants · 3 years

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These are snippets from pieces I wrote set in the Chiaroscuro Reflections AU that I couldn’t ever finish, but liked some parts enough to share.

(Each 3 periods is a different snippet!)

"Ugh...so bored..." Mayday groaned, slouching forward on the bench as the background noise of talking droned on. Currently, she was at a gallery Nadia was attending as an exhibitor and Mayday had tagged along.

Mayday would admit she found stuff like visual art boring, like classical music. She only attended art exhibits and galleries because of Nadia, either to support her creative endeavors or just a weekend away from practicing. Unfortunately, Nadia was currently being held up by various individuals wishing to talk to her about her pieces, so now Mayday was left to her own devices. Which considering her lack of 'artistic perception' as Nadia had put it, meant she was completely bored out of her mind. Mayday didn't deny that observation from her friend; she was a straight-forward person that took things at face value. She could appreciate the colors and the techniques involved, sure, but grasping symbolism and meaning from some painting or sculpture? Way beyond her. That fact was a huge reason for dispute back when she first met Nadia among other reasons - and why Nadia disparagingly called her pedestrian and Mayday countered calling her snobby. But nowadays, Nadia accepted that about Mayday. Instead, Nadia would tell Mayday her interpretations of the art in front of them whenever they visited galleries together. Mayday still couldn't fully get the pieces even with Nadia's commentary, but she wouldn't deny that Nadia's explanations made something that would normally bore her to tears into something she'd consider fun, even if it wasn't to her usual taste. Plus, something about how excited Nadia could get when giving her interpretations of other people's artwork, jade eyes sparkling with a joy that was both foreign and yet fitting for her made Mayday think it was worth hours of her time to make her best friend happy. Nadia always seemed appreciative of Mayday just listening to her talk without judgement and Mayday preferred it that way; early in their friendship, Nadia was self conscious about her thoughts because her perception of things were unique. So she would never talk about things like the ‘hazy gaze of Pluto in the gray’ or ‘the coupling of the sky and the ocean’ as she did now.

The current Nadia was far better simply because she was more herself. Of course, the current lack of Nadia and her Master's degree in Fine Arts and Music mind meant Mayday was stuck in a building full of people's art in an environment that didn't suit her and having no imagination with art interpretation to make her own ideas.

...Maybe she really should try to figure out how to do this art stuff on her own. . . . She wondered what happened between Han and his brother. Han didn't seem to hate his brother, but there was something she couldn't put her finger on. An unspoken frustration mixed with other things hard to say or articulate in a way that made sense. Yinu wondered if it was like herself with her mother. She loved her mother, playing her piano to make her happy. But sometimes, Yinu wondered if it was making her mother happy. Yinu often dreamed of the days gone of her father's piano lessons, back before BAKAT and NSR and filming in a forest backdrop. Back when she wasn't doubtful that her mother loved her whenever she listened to her play. At times, Yinu hated the piano that she and her father loved so much because of those doubts. But in the end, she loved it more than she hated it. Because Yinu simply loved music, the language she used to communicate with her parents before she could even speak properly. Perhaps that was why Yinu felt at ease around Han. And maybe that was why Han felt the same around her to show the slightest hint of vulnerability, some truth behind the artist known as Han. Han's real reason for playing was out of a genuine love for it and the memories associated with it. Both the good and the bad. .

"Excuse me, you two."

It was one of the judges.

"I thought you made your rejection of us clear?"

"Yes, but...I wished to have a few words with both of you."

"Your styles are incompatible."

There was nothing harsh about the words. Only a blunt honesty without any ambiguity behind it meant as good intention critique. Not that it lessened the sting.

Nadia's eyes were unreadable, but her clenched fists spoke enough for her silence.

"If I judged you both independently, you perform well on your own merits. But together, your styles clash and it cheapens your playing."

"Miss Nadia plays in a style like an earthquake; unpredictable and strong. The young man here...is akin to the ocean's surface, still and constant. But instead of accenting the strengths of both, your disconnect brings out the flaws behind both. The earthquake drowns out the sounds and depths of the drums. The ocean is silenced by the earthquake of the bass."

"Your point being?" Nadia asked through gritted teeth and a forced neutrality.

"Unfortunately, I don't think either of you will get far together."

"We can always try to-"

The disappointed look on the old man's face said enough as he shook his head.

"While I believe that's one solution to this issue, I'm afraid that's not an option for you."

Though he'd been looking at Nadia the whole time, Zuke noticed the man briefly casted his eyes at him as he spoke the words, staring straight at his soul.

"What?!"

He sighed, his tired eyes looking away from them as he turned back toward where he came.

"...If you're confused by that, then you've only proven my point."

With that, the old man departed, leaving the two in an awkward silent contemplation.

Looking back on that day in retrospect, the judge's comments was the calm before the storm, a warning omen his relationship with Nadia would not last.

Only a month after that audition, Nadia set his hair on fire and the rest was history.

(That judge had saw the truth long before Zuke ever consciously admitted it despite having known all along.)

#no straight roads #nsr swap au #chiaroscuro reflections

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sarahhsaritaa · 3 years

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i took one continuous video of two candles burning side by side. instead of waiting for the candle to fully burn, i would go in with a lighter and melt the wax so the process went faster. it was a good technique until the flint wheel started heating up. at one point i went to grab another lighter; this is where the lighting changed due to me leaving and removing the hand-held red light. i didn’t notice it at the time, but the warmness of the red light turned cold and had blue tones. however watching it back once edited, i appreciate the lighting shifting with the dying flame. the warmth departs, as does the life in the candle. i included a quick reverse of the clip where you can see the candle building itself back up. it’s interesting because in the first clip, you naturally concentrate on the dying candle but when you watch the reversed clip, you notice how the ‘surviving’ candle is also dying. you often hear the phrase ‘twin flame’ when a friendship or relationship is being described. so i tried to convey two lovers and how their journeys differ. one lover starts to deteriorate and lose themselves. it is obvious that they are the ones struggling in the relationship whilst their partner appears to be on track and thriving. but when you take a closer look (or in this case when the image is reversed), you are made aware of the other lover’s silent struggle.

my initial idea was to have a daisy chain connecting the two candles, and the flame travelling across it. i stuck daisies to a string of candle wick and connected the ends. visually, as a still image, i like the look of the decaying daisies crawling up the wick. but when i tried to light the flame on one end, the fire burns straight through, detaching the chain. i do want to try this shot again and figure out a way that works. perhaps i could use thread to sew the daisies together, or i could make a literal daisy chain and find a way to attach it to the candles.

the significance of candles has always been apparent throughout the history of film. they’re used as symbols of romance, religion, relaxation and light into the next world as well as for set/lighting. in ‘The Lovely Bones’ (dir. Peter Jackson, 2009), Jack Salmon (played by Mark Wahlberg) loses his daughter Susie (played by Saoirse Ronan) and tries to reveal her murderer throughout the film. the two bonded over making ships in bottles; Jack sets up a candle on top of a bottled ship and lets it burn. in the room, the flame is still, but in the reflection, the flame dances as Susie has a breakthrough. she is in the ‘in-between’, not quite ready to let go of her life. her chilling narration connects her to the real world and the actions of her family as she tries to unveil her murderer to them. once she makes this connection to her father through the flame’s reflection, Susie realises “everything is gonna be okay” and sets about enjoying this otherworldly liminal space.

other films use candles in contrasting ways. in ‘William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet’ (dir. Baz Luhrmann, 1996), there is a wide shot of Juliet (played by Claire Danes) lying atop her grave, immersed in a pool of brightly lit candles. the candles symbolise her innocence and create a sense of peace as Romeo (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) walks to her grave. we are seeing Juliet from Romeo’s point of view; he uses light and dark imagery throughout the play, describing her as a source of light that illuminates her tomb. Luhrmann has taken imagery directly from Shakespeare’s play to create this angelic image.

Judd Apatow’s ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ (2005) has an entirely different approach to candle significance. Andy (played by Steve Carell) is a 40-year-old virgin who, back in the early 2000′s, would’ve been classified as a ‘nerd’ for spending his free time playing video games. his friend David (played by Paul Rudd) encourages him to have sex, and in one scene leaves him a large box containing pornographic dvds. Andy tells him he doesn’t want them, but once David leaves, the camera slowly focuses on him lighting a collection of candles in preparation for his chosen dvd. Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’ plays as a montage of Andy buttoning up his comfy pyjamas and turning around his framed pictures and trophies commences, all while revealing even more rows of candles. he is surrounded. this scene is comedy gold, and i believe the candles really emphasise his desperation and lack of experience.

when looking at the technicality of using candles in film, they aren’t the most reliable and are often made specifically for a film shoot. large studio lights and effects emphasise a flame’s appearance and most times you can’t tell the difference. however, when you watch scenes from films like ‘Barry Lyndon’ (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1975), you learn to appreciate the roles and efforts of the lighting department. many of the indoor scenes used natural lighting, including evening ones which were candle-lit. Kubrick, being the devoted genius that he is, used real candles he had specially made so the flames lasted longer. filming scenes that are only lit by candle is technically difficult today, let alone in the 70′s where equipment was limited. so Kubrick bought a lens from NASA that was used by astronauts on the moon that he then had fitted into a film camera. his devotion and attention to detail is what makes ‘Barry Lyndon’ one of the most accurate depictions of the 18th century. all the quirks and characteristics that come from natural lighting and unpredictable flames is what transports you into this world of european aristocracy.

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morpheuslikestodream · 3 years

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PUCKER: a Sandman Universe fanfic

*The following is extended and lifted from the Sandman: Seasons of Mist storyline. This is a mere writing exercise and honorary gesture to play within the confines of the world created by Neil Gaiman and all creators, with honor and respect. :)

There was a woman who achieved glory upon a vent of gushing air. Of course, she had already gained fame, and fortune, but it was the image, the stance – legs slightly bent, knees inverted, arms locked and hands clasping her dress – that cemented itself in the collective. Poor, tragic Marilyn, her fists securing that white ivory cocktail dress as it danced in the wind, like a skinned swan or a hungry lily attempting to devour its host.

Go on. Visualize it. The dress and the damsel wed together over that gushing vent. She would always be tattooed in the eye of your mind, a girl symbol, caught in a flirtatious up-shoot of tragedy. You’ll see her, the image, in commercials and magazines and the chronicles of filmography. She’ll be immortalized in wax. You’ll smile at her as if she were an intimate friend or fond crush from a bygone youth or a pretty face you wish you had, all fulfilled vicariously in that bombshell visage.

And if you could envision her, so could they.

“The gods have come for you,” Susano O-No-Mikoto addressed her coldly, like an art collector attaining their next commission. His hair was black, pulled back into a bun, and he possessed a thin, wispy beard that sharpened into a point. He wore a scarlet robe, delicate and silky, and his eyes, which scrutinized her with an impersonal fondness, appeared to be of some Asian nationality. “As a private individual for the pantheon of my mother, the Queen Izanami, it is a grace, Miss Monroe, to be welcomed into our collection. There is a special wing that exclusively houses Americana and Western iconography.”

Marilyn didn’t understand any of this.

And she couldn’t speak, her mouth failed to beg for clarity. It was the lips, frozen, puckered lips. And the wind, blowing perpetually beneath her, danced her dress like a rabid beast. While the robed man continued, Marilyn’s focus was consumed by the dress, and here she had to convince herself she was more than this accoutrement.

“Come. Follow,” said the god. And while he spoke, she strived to recall who she was. She had entered the world as a woman, yes, and she had taken her grand exit as a star, in the same City of Angels. She had been an actress, the wife of a playwright and a baseball legend and maybe mistress to dead presidents. She was a person, goddammit, of flesh and blood, of rumor and glamor.

None of that mattered at the moment, not in her current situation.

Because Marilyn couldn’t move. She had tried. She really had, but her body refused to budge. She was alive, or she was dead. She was on-stage, or off. There were cameras in the shadows and spotlights from oblivion. Eyes in the flashes of light. And she couldn’t move because, again, her legs were bent, the knobs of her knees pressed together, arms rigid, hands taming the white bastard dress, and that cold, cold air licking her from underneath.

And lips, puckered.

Marilyn felt no trace of self here – wherever here was. Had she died? Was she being punished, because your savior was revoked if you did that act, even if that wasn’t for certain? Whatever had happened had stolen her humanity. Marilyn might have been a wax statue, a fixed caricature, someone’s midnight wank. And perhaps all those were true; after all, she was an icon now, and icons could be many things. Despite that, whoever they were now cared nothing of the personal touches, no, the gods regarded her as a pretty face in the American collective. That’s what mattered.

Puckered lips.

Susano O-No-Mikoto escorted her through his mother’s underworld, strange halls cluttered with armors and museum props. She spotted a display of a toilet that perhaps once sat the rear of a king. In his rambling, he used words like eclectic and hybridization and efficiency. His words were bloated with pride, like an uppity hunter who sought and attained the rarest treasures. But those words meant nothing to Marilyn. She still hadn’t forgotten the kind visage of the woman with raven black hair with the shadow filled with the flapping of wings in flight.

“…we hope to continue down this line,” continued the god, “acquiring you, we can acquire others. John F. Kennedy is in Hell. But his effigy is strong in the artifacts of his demise. Lee Harvey Oswald could be ours. The grassy knoll itself harbors a sentience all its own as well. The prospects of our ambitions are limitless. It is said…”

And when Marilyn refocused, Susano had stopped to inspect her, his breath – scented with the promise of storms – was cold and brutal, and a pointy finger tapped his lips, the vaguest hint of a smile on his arrogant face. She felt no love from him, no real love. Not like the love Jesus and the Lord promised her as she grew. And she had been a good person; she deserved better than to not have love. And yet the man, who might’ve been a god, cared nothing for her as the person. He only desired the spirit of what she was. But a transcendence within a certain collective didn’t change her stature. It wasn’t her. All the little details of who she was were sprinklings upon a personal mythology that only bred the impersonal. The world, cultures come and gone, could only see her in the stars.

And as for the little details, did those matter?

No, not to him.

And then he was gone.

When Marilyn was alone, “They have you too,” rumbled a deep and heavy voice from the room. “You are beautiful, as I was, although you are not as beautiful as the one I carried to the top of the world.”

Marilyn winced, startled.

“Be still, woman. We are family now, and I will protect you if I must. If I can.”

“Where am I?” Marilyn piped.

“The assimilation of the American Pantheon. The Underworld. Hell. Who can know for sure?”

“Who are you?” Her voice trembled. “Who’s there?”

“You remind me of her,” said the deep voice.

“Of her? Who?”

“You look like her, in your fashion, a pair of eyes and pretty hair. The one I carried to the top of the world. I was king there, before I fell, before I was forced to fall, although I confess I attained immortality in that moment, I think. At least, I’d like to look at it that way. The tragedy, the descent.”

“Are…are you…the devil?” Marilyn stammered.

Ignoring her, “They can fear you and love you and cry for you. When the tears are shed is when we become idols.”

She needed to see the face. She had to. “Oh, Mister,” she pleaded, “please come forward.”

And the beast revealed itself.

Marilyn would’ve screamed if her lips were puckered, if they could ever alter. Her frozen stance did not permit. Instead the dress blew more frantically. * “I must take my absence. Opportunities abroad bless us. The gods of Nippon and her highest majesty, the Queen, my mother Izanami, must not squander the chance in attaining most fruitful grace. If the key belongs to our kingdom…” the Asian man in his fancy gowns who smelled like a thunderstorm or a coming rain shower departed from the room through an entrance that didn’t really exist. In the silence of an attic filled with antiques from Atlantis or Wall Street or Hollywood, the white-haired star with her puckered lips kept her gaze down, until sheepishly she dared to lock eyes with the gorilla. And the gorilla rested his black hands upon his massive ape pecs and exhaled forcefully from nostrils that flared out in angst and boredom.

“I would have found the stars,” King Kong said after some time.

Marilyn raised an eyebrow, oh?

“I could have climbed forever.” Kong drummed his fingers on his chest. “It wasn’t me who was limited; it was only the ladder in which I ascended. Just me and her, the one that wasn’t you. I would’ve reached for the moon, then the stars themselves, and whatever is above that. I was limited by them, because a monster could only ascend so far and then they fall, and then they love you. In death you gain humanity; a posthumous flavor of idolatry and what you represented. You become your fall because that’s how people remember you. Not the details. It’s all what you could have been; all the what-ifs. And that’s how a star is born. That’s how idols rise.”

And the gorilla was done then, crossing its arms, and saying no more. In the silence, Marilyn felt a quiver in her lip, a tear in the corner of her eye. If she could unpucker her lips she would’ve smiled fondly at the beast and his words. After some time she glided towards him, her hungry frilly dress shooting up around her, and she moved next to him and the two touched, so slightly. Time faded then. It came in and out in waves and blurs. And sometime a hole opened in the world and a vast shadow filled the space for a moment. The sound of wings beat around them.

“Hey, down there!” called a perky voice that was kind, yet filled with urgency. “Things are a mess around here. It’s a Hell thing. Anyway,” the girl trailed, “I’ve got lots of work, you know, and, well, if you wanted to perhaps transition in a sense, I’m here. I’ll always be here, even if I’m not. Ok? But the doors open. Mister O-No-Mikoto’s dreams of attaining Hell are dead. I took them when the fiery torch was passed on to another pair of angels. And besides the mighty storm god of Nippon is in a bit of a predicament. Sorry. Talking too much.” Like that she was gone.

After a moment, hesitantly, King Kong moved to his feet. He climbed the walls and reached towards the ceiling exit. And before he departed, he looked towards her. “Come. You are not her but I can carry you to the top of the world, again.” And he took Marilyn in his grip and they ascended together towards the stars. “The winds are on your side,” said the King, “and he was a god of storms. Perhaps there’s irony in that. Or perhaps we shall rise as high as the gods allow.”

#neil gaiman #Sandman #sandman universe #vertigo #fiction #creative writing #mythology #books #fanfic #fantasy #fables #Fable Unbound

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cyanoscarlet · 4 years

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20/20 vision ☀️🎁 "He’s being saved again, comes the rueful thought. How many times does that make it, now?" The sheer *clenches fist* BACKGROUND in this line, how DARE you dani. This is the line that spawned my train of thought, I hope you're happy. Reducing me to angstful tears as I think about backstories and the potential in a hospital.

...... Aiyah...... (breaks into nervous sweats)

I’ll preface this with the fact that 20/20 vision, too, was a product of post-duty chaotic-brain-ing while on a coffee high, so thank you again! THANK YOU so much. Forever over the moon over this! <3

List of fic asks here!

He’s being saved again, comes the rueful thought. How many times does that make it, now?

20/20 vision, bungou stray dogs

(In which Chuuya is an ophthalmologist, Dazai is his optometrist, and they slowly fall in love.)

☀️ - Was there any symbolism/motifs you worked in?

Apart from the obvious references to eyes, some of the other passages used in this story are, indeed, metaphors for certain aspects of Dazai and Chuuya’s relationship, as well as Chuuya’s developing feelings for Dazai— many of them I’ve only derived from rereading this fic again and again just now, you’ll note!

Just a few major ones among the many:

The business proposition - Dazai does mean it literally, but yeah, he’s also taken interest in Chuuya himself, and wants them to be in a relationship. Chuuya himself is at first tolerant, then accepting of it, which runs parallel to his growing thoughts and feelings for Dazai. The way he keeps track of how many times Dazai has said this now is indicative of that. He is still hesitant, of course— be it due to confusion or to career-related reasons, but Dazai is and will always be willing to wait for Chuuya, hence the gentle, persistent reminder every time he visits.

Also, yes, the ending part in which Chuuya calls back to this is totally him saying ‘yes’ to Dazai— tantamount to a love confession, if you will. The essence of that whole last conversation, in light of everything that has happened before it, makes the story come full circle in its own way. There is always something sweet about saying ‘I love you’ without actually saying it, and the symbolism of the business proposition works really well for this whole purpose.

The spare glasses - It reflects both Dazai’s long-term familiarity with (everything about) Chuuya at this point, and the fact that no matter what, Chuuya will always have a safe space (home) with Dazai himself, eye problems and friendship and everything in between. You have Chuuya ruminating on his pride and principles and admitting his own faults, and he can just be all of that— that is, himself, when he is with Dazai. And Dazai knows this, too: “You didn’t have to ask, you know.”

The coffee and prescriptions - In the more literal sense, it’s Dazai being his disaster himself + creating trouble (coffee), and Chuuya having to take care of him (prescriptions), albeit a bit more hilariously unwilling on his part. Subconsciously, Dazai is always wanting to keep Chuuya’s attention on him, hence the repeat offenses, but Chuuya is always willing to forgive him those anyway / shower the attention that Dazai wants. Similarly, the wine / coffee discussions represent their individual differences, and what Chuuya thinks of them. They do try their best to meet in the middle, though, coming to an understanding / compromise of sorts— you see this in the ending, too, when they go out drinking.

A note on Kunikida, and his relationship/s with Dazai and with Chuuya - Kunikida, in this story, is Dazai’s old classmate from college, and is currently Chuuya’s colleague in a different department. Although it may appear that Dazai and Kunikida seem a bit more dismissive of each other, they do have a good relationship founded on common ground (science / statistical analysis), which Chuuya does not share with Dazai (literature / writing). You are right in that this makes Chuuya and Kunikida good foils of each other, yet they, too, have a good relationship / understanding despite their differences, both as individuals (Chuuya in Ophthalmology and Kunikida in Internal Medicine) and within their respective relationships with Dazai (Chuuya being more tolerant / forgiving as the newer friend, and Kunikida being more strict / stern, as the older friend).

On the more headcanon-y stuff (which I really don’t think I’ll be able to write at this point because my brain is already decidedly chaotic as fuck hahaaahah), a couple of lines I’ve picked up that can be expanded on are:

1. Chuuya and 20/20 vision - As you may have probably sensed from his character (and it totally fits him in canon), he never really wanted to be a doctor. He even had a rebellious streak in college for it. He still ends up in med school, though, but he doesn’t have a direct goal / direction in life at this point. This is represented by his worsening visual acuity, which, yes, was directly caused by constantly burning the midnight oil while studying. He’s stuck in a field he doesn’t want, yet tries his best, way too much, that he just gets lost. It is at this low point in his life that he meets Dazai, and his life changes. He gets glasses, tries to make sense of his life (regain 20/20 vision), and where to go from there. And Dazai, god bless him, is always there, always has his back for the whole ride: He’s being saved again, comes the rueful thought. How many times does that make it, now? They fall in love along the way, and it takes very long for them to reach the endgame, but they do, and it is beautiful. Chuuya’s 20/20 vision is his contentment with his life now, and a forever with Dazai. It’s the best view he could ever wish for, and he is very happy with it.

2. Chuuya, Mori-sensei and Promises - A very different version of Chuuya learning from (and in turn, being influenced by) Mori from Fifteen (Pre-canon) Arc. I don’t have a solid one for this tbh, but let’s just say an encounter with Mori greatly changes Chuuya’s outlook and makes him choose Ophthalmology as his specialty, the way he comes to swear loyalty to Mori and the Port Mafia in canon. No real solid connection with Dazai, in this case, but feel free to make of it what you will! I’m not quite imaginative enough for this hahaha.

... Okay, that was long. (sweatdrops)

🎁 - Any writing advice for people who want to write something like this?

First of all, do not drink brewed coffee at lunch time and end up with nearing 48 hours of palpitations later. Also, do not be like Dazai and drink 18 cups of coffee in one sitting, holy crap. I don’t think even Kunikida can save you from that if you do end up going over that literal and proverbial edge.

All that crap aside (which I do mean in earnest!), this idea totally came from a simple desire headcanon of Chuuya in prescription glasses. This, in turn, was influenced by downtime chats with my triage partner for that day, my classmate from med school now doing Ophthalmology residency. There were also other small things that happened to me IRL, like the way the lenses of my false glasses quickly yellowed within days of purchase, and the unexpected offer of free brewed coffee. Bottom line, take cues from real life; it’s a fun goldmine of tales tall and short, and you’ll have fun telling those because they are first and foremost yours.

Similar to this, take note of the small things around you— pay attention to the way the leaves are swept by the wind, the way she crosses the street, the taste of the coffee you drink. Then describe those in your head— what I find works best for me is both immersing myself in the scenario and staying outside of it, like controlling a video game character / avatar, in a way. That way, I can develop my sentences in a vivid manner yet stay objective. (This is a bit harder to explain, actually.)

Most of all, write what works best for you, no matter what style you use. One quote I remember from English writing class (yet another gen-ed pre-req subject boohoo) states: “Write in white heat; revise in cold blood.” When you are struck by the idea, write it down. Let the ideas take over your fingers and let yourself get carried away. I admit that I really didn’t think through the plot of this very fic myself; I just let myself go until I was done a few hours later. This heat-of-the-moment writing high rarely happens to me (I wish it happened more often!), but I find that what I do come up with when I don’t think things through ends up a final product I quite like, other people’s feedback aside. The editing later is another story; don’t be afraid to critique your own work and adjust accordingly, if you feel that it will make the story better. (This part I have a decidedly much harder time with, but it’s still good advice, so I’m putting that down here, as well.)

Okay, that got reeeeeaaaaallyyyyyy long, now. Aegis really be pushing me to my limits every time we talk, and it’s making me grow and learn more about writing and about myself. I’m really, really grateful for this ask. I hope you all enjoyed reading this, too!

List of fic asks here!

#dani answers #eternal-aegis #fanfic ask #fic meta #fic discourse #bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu #nakahara chuuya #soukoku #skk #dachuu #long post

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templeofulchtar · 5 years

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Ghost Season Working Part 5/7

He’s called the Planet of No Fun for a reason...

Confronting Unicron

“By Saturn they seek to represent that power which maintains the cyclic course of times and seasons. This is the sense that the Greek name of that god bears, for he is called Kronos, which is the same as Chronos or Time. Saturn for his part got his name because he was ‘sated’ with years; the story that he regularly devoured his own children is explained by the fact that time devours the courses of the seasons, and gorges itself ‘insatiably’ on the years that are past. Saturn was enchained by Jupiter to ensure that his circuits did not get out of control, and to constrain him with the bonds of the stars.”

- Quintus Lucilius Balbus as recorded by Marcus Tullius Cicero and translated by P.G. Walsh, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), Book II, Part ii, Section c

"Where there's a curse on the door, there's treasure on the other side." - Starscream

Welcome to the opening ritual of the Ghost Season Working!

In this rite you, the Seeker, will take on Starscream’s role in confronting Unicron, the Devourer of Worlds. Why would you do that? Well, Starscream’s purpose was very straightforward indeed:

“I want my old body back! So let’s make a deal.”

Unicron’s reply to this was:

“Yes. Unicron can grant your request. But only after you have performed three labors.”

I’m guessing your purpose won’t be quite the same as Starscream’s, but the same principle applies. That’s because Unicron, in this ritual, represents the energy of Saturn. Unicron’s character designer literally modeled him after the planet Saturn which, as you probably know, was named after the ancient Roman deity of the same name. You may also know that Saturn is associated with Cronus, the Greek god of time. (Unicron, Cronus. Get it?)

Saturn, or Cronus, governs matters relating to:

♄ Cycles ♄ Time ♄ Contracts ♄ Commitments ♄ Matter and the material world ♄ Death ♄ Dissolution ♄ Setting limits and boundaries ♄ Pushing things to mature ♄ Discipline ♄ Structure and form ♄ Hard Work

Saturn gets a bad rap. He’s kind of like the Devil and the Grim Reaper rolled into one, and has a (somewhat deserved) reputation as the Planet of No Fun. His energy, however, is also useful and necessary.

Think about it: If you want to bring something into material form, you need to define your goal, commit time to it, work hard, exercise self-discipline, and engage in the necessary destruction of anything (bad habits, say) that stands in your way.

In this ritual you will engage Unicron’s Saturnian energy, commit to your goal and the Labors necessary to achieve it, and at the same time, commit to the necessary sacrifices you will have to make in order to bring your goal into being.

This ritual can be done in solitary, or with a ritual partner. If you partner with someone else who is also performing the Ghost Season Working, you can do it twice, switching roles so that you each have a chance to be both Starscream and Unicron.

Preparation

You will need:

★ your journal

★ a few sheets of loose paper

★ a pen

If desired, you may also include:

★ a set of devil-horns

★ a black candle inscribed with Saturn’s symbol: ♄

★ a mirror

Choose Your Labors

Before you begin the ritual, take time to write your goal or intention in your journal. Then consider what needs to happen in order to bring that intention into being. What tasks, or Labors, must you complete in order to have what you desire? The Labors you choose should be somewhat challenging, but not so much that you feel you can’t do them. The exact nature of your Labors will vary according to the nature of your goal, but I would suggest coming up with Labors that are:

a). Concrete and measurable, even if your goal is is subjective;

b). Based on participation rather than performance;

c). Controllable by you.

For example, let’s say you’re a visual artist and your Ghost Season intention is to develop your art skills. Good Labors for this would be:

★ Set a time to draw each day ★ Do a sketch per day ★ Fill a sketchbook page every day ★ Attend a life-drawing class each week for the duration of Ghost Season ★ Sign up for an art class ★ Work your way through a book of drawing exercises as if it was a course

All of these are participation-based, all are measurable, and all are under your personal control. Did you show up for life-drawing class? Did you fill a page in your sketchbook? These are yes or no questions, and you can check them off on your to-do list as concrete action items. That makes them perfect as Labors.

Whether or not you produced a world-changing masterpiece is a subjective call, but what isn’t up for debate is the fact that your sketchbook is now 63 pages fatter than it was at the start of Ghost Season. Chances are, you’re a better artist because of it.

The same principle can be applied to even more subjective goals, such as working through an emotional issue. You can create a Labor of meditating each day, writing in your journal each day, setting up a shrine or altar to honor your ancestors or a departed loved one, or signing up for a boxing class to help you channel anger productively.

How many Labors should you have? Unicron assigned Starscream three Labors in order to regain his body. I would suggest that three should be your maximum number of Labors. If you’d rather stick with one or two, that’s completely fine.

Once you’ve chosen your Labors, write them down in your journal.

One final note about Labors:

I suggested performing the Greeting the Seeker ritual before doing this step because once you’ve established a working relationship with Starscream, he will be able to assist you in choosing the best Labors for your goal. He supports ambitious people, and I’ve always found his guidance to be both helpful and reliable. Give it a try! You may surprise yourself.

Sacrifices

Every goal requires some form of sacrifice. At minimum, you will need time to perform your Labors, which might mean setting aside other activities, at least temporarily. Other forms of sacrifice might include self-defeating fears, habits or beliefs.

For example, I’ve recently come to the realization that I feel guilty about writing. I love to write and I would love to do it for a living, but my guilt over “wasting time” on a pursuit that our culture regards as valuable only if it makes a ton of money (hello, J. K. Rowling) trips me up every time. Is that guilt getting sacrificed this year? You know it.

Take your time with this. You might want to freewrite, noting down anything that comes up as an obstacle to achieving your goal. Once you feel you’ve gotten it all out on the page, you can turn it into a list of “sacrifices.”

Write this list on one of your loose sheets of paper, and set it aside.

Rewards

Now begin a second list, under the title of “Rewards.” Write down the ways in which your life will be better once you’ve achieved your goals. Starscream regained his physical body and got a new lease on life. What will you gain, and how will you reward yourself?

Think of Starscream’s coronation. How would you want to celebrate your win? With music? Special food? Shiny objects? A fashion statement, such as that purple cape? Or just a hot bath, or a Netflix marathon? Think about what would feel rewarding, and plan for it. Hang on to this list. We’ll come back to it at the end of Ghost Season, when your Labors are complete.

You are now ready to Confront Unicron!

Ritual: Confronting Unicron

Do this ritual either on August 22 or the nearest date that works for you, preferably a Saturday (Saturn’s Day).

OPTION ONE: If performing as a Solitary (with props)

Pick a time when you won’t be interrupted. Light your black candle and sit in a mostly darkened room facing your mirror. There should be just enough light for you to read by, and to see your reflection. If you have a pair of devil horns, you can wear them so that your reflection becomes the image of Unicron. Otherwise, just use your imagination.

If you like, you can read the dialogue aloud. You can read Unicron’s dialogue (in a suitably sepulchral voice, of course), and read Starscream’s role either using a voice similar to his, using his name, or you can just speak in your own natural voice, using your own name. Do whichever feels best.

UNICRON

“I am Unicron. Who awakens me?”

STARSCREAM

“Unicron, allow me to introduce myself. I am Starscream.” [Or your own name]

UNICRON

“What do you wish from Unicron?”

STARSCREAM

“I want [explain your goal]. So, let’s make a deal.”

UNICRON

“Yes. Unicron can grant your request. But only after you have performed the necessary Labors. Which labors have you selected?”

STARSCREAM

“I will [and name your labors].”

UNICRON

“These labors are acceptable to Unicron. When will you complete them?”

STARSCREAM

“By the end of nine weeks, on October 23rd.”

UNICRON

“And what sacrifices will you make?”

STARSCREAM

“I will sacrifice [and read your list of sacrifices].”

UNICRON

“These sacrifices are acceptable to Unicron. The contract is made. See that you make it so.”

Fold your list of sacrifices three times, turning it counter-clockwise each time you fold it. Three is the number sacred to Saturn, and the counter-clockwise direction indicates that you are ‘banishing’ these sacrificial items or activities for the duration of Ghost Season. Do not destroy the list; simply put it away somewhere. (I use my sock drawer, but your mileage may vary.)

Now, sit quietly. If you wish, turn the lights on and write down anything that came up for you during the ritual. Begin planning your labors. How will you implement them, starting tomorrow? Write it down, make a plan. Your work has just begun.

OPTION TWO: If performing as a Solitary (without props)

Pick a time when you won’t be interrupted. Open your journal to a fresh page and sit quietly, breathing deeply to bring yourself into a meditative state.

At the top of the page, draw the Saturn symbol: ♄

Then begin writing out the conversation above. Try to do so in character, imagining Unicron’s voice, and Starscream’s (or, if you’re using your own name, simply your own voice).

When done, fold your list of sacrifices three times, turning it counter-clockwise each time you fold it. Put the list away somewhere safe, for the duration of Ghost Season. Now, if you wish, write down anything that came up for you during the ritual. Begin planning your labors. How will you implement them, starting tomorrow? Write it down, make a plan. Your work has just begun.

OPTION THREE: If performing with a partner

If you’re doing this with a ritual partner you can take turns, so that each of you gets to play both roles. Devil horns are optional, of course, but do have fun with the voices! It will make the experience richer if you let go of your inhibitions and aren’t afraid to look a bit silly.

When you are each done, fold your lists of sacrifices three times, turning them counter-clockwise each time you fold. Put your lists away somewhere safe for the duration of Ghost Season. Now, if you wish, chat with your ritual partner about anything that came up for you during the ritual.

Congratulations! Your Ghost Season journey has begun. But every journey needs rest-stops along the way, and this one is no different. Turn to the next post in the series to learn how to assess your progress.

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#starscream #unicron #ghost season #pop culture magick #pop culture paganism #pop culture spirituality #starscream spirit guide #ghost in the machine #ghost season working

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bro-stoevsky · 5 years

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Are you ready to hear me lose my absolute mind over my favorite scene as a part of the deeply enabling @the-terror-appreciation-week

it’s Franklin’s funeral from The Ladder! Which means I’m going to talk for 100 years about the lead-up to this and the scene itself. Didn’t you do this yesterday? You may wonder. Not these scenes I didn’t. Yesterday I talked for 100 years about different scenes, which makes this OK, and normal. Even fun and lighthearted.

There are a lot of great scenes in this show obviously but this one will always be my favorite, it’s so laden with meaning and warring perspectives. That it’s Crozier reading a service Franklin wrote in much different circumstances than he imagined is especially significant!!! Delicious, delicious significance.

Franklin probably intended it to be comforting, full of reminders that God is close by and always watching them, as well as inspiring -- Jacob’s Ladder is, after all, a story about God keeping his promise to Jacob’s ancestors. It’s easy to see Franklin intending that to prick everyone’s spirits with the crazy understanding that the Northwest Passage is somehow their right to discover; something owed to them that will soon be delivered. Remember in David Young’s funeral he did the same thing where it was like “sad about him but one step CLOSER TO THE PASSAGE”

But in the context of its delivery -- a Franklinless world where, after the funeral, no further attempt or mention is made of finding the Northwest Passage -- it does an incredible job of amping up the dread. The parallels between Bethel and their unplotted location (as Franklin puts it, “no house, no hearth”) are exaggerated, as is the symbolic nature of the ladder. This is, after all, a story from Genesis, when God had approximately zero problems chatting with people any old time, one on one, physically present, while they were awake. But the ladder, the thing that leads away from the “terrible place” Jacob is stuck, is only a dream. And that’s the part that becomes most significant in the context of this scene which I want to print on a silk rug and roll around on like Becky Sharp in that scene in the Reese Witherspoon Vanity Fair movie where her rug unrolls on the street and she just rolls around on it. Just. Like. That.

This scene, as well as the preceding episode, does a great job of making it clear that Franklin’s viewpoint of destiny and metaphor and Biblical parallel is direly unsuited to the situation. The listeners feel that they are actually in a terrible place, geographically and in terms of the options remaining to them. And they need an actual way out. Not a dream, not the unseen but immediate presence of the invisible world. The disparate dawning of this understanding is apparent on some of the guys faces.

Let’s take a look at what everybody’s doing:

Crozier is sad but also he’s focused on reading. Fitzjames is sad but he keeps looking at Crozier like u better fuckin read it good

Collins losing hope, Le Vesconte regular sad, Stanley inscrutable:

Blanky stoic, Jopson mentally cheering on Crozier who is doing a great job reading that Victorian handwriting:

Fitzjames overcome by the beauty of Franklin’s description of the known world: “with its rocks and moon.” Poetry, he thinks. The world does have rocks and a moon. Chi renda a me quell'uom?

Crozier’s voice cracking thinking about “all the people we know, have ever known, and ever will know:”

Hickey getting ready to shit in Gibson’s bed and presumably wipe his ass with Gibson’s glove:

Do I wish this scene was not cut through with Hickey shitting in Gibson’s bed? I do. Do I know what it means? Not really? Some kind of contrast between the baseness of Hickey’s actions and the high-mindedness of a funeral, showing the ends of the spectrum of humanity? Too visually boring to just show the funeral? Shocking us with how much Hickey really does not give a single fuck about society’s rules and virtues? Foreshadowing the inevitability of Gibson’s similarity with the rats he described as “swimming in our filth....devouring each other”? What are birds?

We Just Don’t Know.

Now because this is TV and the episode is called The Ladder, let’s take a look at all the ladders in the episode:

(1)

Concluding the plot of Silna’s father from the previous episode, we see the ghastly sight of the fire hole where Franklin has instructed his crew to take the man, in a horrifying contrast to the “mercy” he showed in a previous burial ashore. All the other dead after they left open water have been stored on the ship. Into this fire hole a piece of ship’s rigging extends, presumably (?) in case anyone fell in during its maintenance:

Either way it’s clearly a ladder, and it is clear where it leads:

Franklin takes this ladder down with him, as well as the bucket of coals they used to keep the hole open:

(2)

I’m pretty sure this is just an innocent ladder, but nevertheless, it does scoot by behind Irving and Hickey having their watercolors conversation:

(3)

Listen I have no idea what in absolute Fuck Hickey is saying at the best of times, but his little “you don’t know what you’re missing” speech to Gibson in their breakup talk is interesting:

I can’t think how this is contributing substantively to the motif. It’s more likely that he’s taken Irving’s suggestion of “climbing exercises” to heart and his actual plan to relieve the boredom of being stuck in the ice while simultaneously being E.C. Hickey is to.......somehow worm his way to the top? of the expedition? but it is interesting.

(4)

Listen I know this isn’t a LADDER (what if I didn’t and you were like........do we tell her.......) but it is the closest we come to acknowledging what is ACTUALLY needed -- a physical way out. Whether you call that a ladder, a staircase, or a road, Crozier Gets It:

This post has been sponsored by theladders.com: Exclusive Job Matches in HR, Sales, Finance, Tech & Marketing. Approved Recruiters. Not really!

ANYWAY this is my favorite scene. I love it. I love it to SMITHEREENS.

Addendum:

Here is the full text of the service, proving once and for all why I’ve never been good at transcribing (I can’t punctuate), but here for your reading pleasure:

“In his flight, Jacob lighted upon a certain place and tarried there because the sun was set. He thought it a terrible place. No house, no hearth. But that night he dreamed: a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reaching to the heavens. Behold, the Lord stood above it, and He said: 'I am with thee and will keep thee in all places wherever thou goest, for I will not leave thee.’ And in Jacob’s dream he saw the invisible world, companion to the known one we perceive, with its rocks and moon, its ice fields and brute animals, and all the people we know, have ever known, and will ever know. So complete it would seem to leave no room for its invisible brother world which is yet more immense than the one we see. For in this world dwell the angels who keep us, the Lord who will not leave us, and the departed, who though cleaved from the frame that carried them, yet live. The newest to their ranks our bright captain, Sir John. Who in the virtue and strength of his every gesture showed himself the elect of the Lord, destined to reign with Christ forever. The invisible world of spirits, though unseen, was present for Jacob -- not future, not distant, but present. And it is now, and it is here, among us if we open our eyes and see His truth amongst us.”

And HERE is the paper Crozier was reading from -- notably it is missing “the Lord who will not leave us” and the stuff about Franklin being the “elect of the Lord” etc etc -- though the latter stuff is probably something Franklin wrote anyway, just on a new page.

#theterrorappreciationweek #wheeze #long post #is this #meta?#my favorite scene is franklin's funeral that's all u need 2 know

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forceprojecdin · 4 years

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Hero’s Journey of The Mandalorian (Season 1)

The first live action Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian is a master class in 2 elements that are central to the ongoing success of this franchise. One is its expertly woven Joseph Campbell “Hero’s Journey”, the other is the cinema, and how the artful design, cinematography and editing lure the viewer into repeat viewings. The latter has not been see in modern blockbuster movies at this level for a long time. Only possible because George Lucas hand-picked and well trained apprentice Dave Filoni is at the co-helm. Lucas has said if he wasn’t a movie maker, he would have been an abstract painter, and that is one reason his movies are more re-watchable than others. His student is also a visual artist. But I digress, this post will show the Hero’s Journey of season one, of which, Jon Favreau has admittedly studied and admired from Lucas’ work. Bravo F&F! Everything ahead is a spoiler.

Chapter One: The Mandalorian

The premiere is about the Call To Adventure (step 1). Par for the saga. Except, this time there is no usual hesitation, which is known as Refusal Of The Call (step 2). One might think the call to adventure comes from Werner Herzog’s ”The Client” or Carl Weathers’ ”Greef Carga” characters, who send him on the path of a life changing bounty. While this is the case in part, the true call comes from his conscience, when he is faced with saving the life a child SPOILER .... of the Yoda species, from the attempted infanticide by co-bounty hunter IG-11.

Before setting off on his true adventure, he receives Supernatural Aid (step 3) from an Ugnaught named Kuiil, played by Nick Nolte. This isn’t the usual “wizard” type, but he is an elder, and in classic myth, especially Indigenous mythology The Elder usually poses a high wisdom, compassion and spiritual understanding, which Kuiil fully possesses as well.

Almost every journey in the saga starts with a shot of our hero over some sort of cliff, and this is always symbolic of Crossing First Threshold (step 4). The cliff is the jumping off point, into the “field of adventure”. Mando is leaving his “known limits” Just like Luke and Ben over the cliff before Mos Eisley, like Jyn and Cassian over the Jedha cliff, Finn over the cliff of a Jakku dune etc. Now it’s Mando riding with Kuiil past cliffs, or looking over the cliff to a guarded western style town, about to find his bounty.

We also get a glimpse into the Belly Of The Whale (step 5) when Mando enters the dark cave to submit the Besker steel he earned for taking the job from “The Client". Here he is ceremoniously awarded a new shoulder piece, made from the sacred steel, and shows his “willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.” This metamorphosis is represented in full in the coming chapter, when Din literally loses his old armour, which lost it’s “integrity” (which symbolizes him losing his way), to be replaced by new Beskar armour, which like a snake, is new skin. The Road Of Trials (step 6) is expressed in pretty much every episode, like when Kuiil tries to teach The Mandalorian how to ride the big Blurrg creature. In order to “begin the transformation, often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes”. He fails his first few attempts, but aided by his guide, he achieves a connection to the creature, and then successfully mounts it. This connection was also shown in Filoni’s Star Wars: Rebels animated show, with Ezra and a Lothcat, which is also an expression of the oneness of The Force. The oneness is also the end of the journey for the hero, and the “knowledge” that every hero returns with. But we will have to wait until the finale for that! In the meantime, these are the hints.

* * *

Chapter Two: The Child

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” — Joseph Campbell More Road Of Trials when he fails to keep his ship The Razorcrest safe, and has to undergo a trial to restore it. Metamorphic symbolism. The Belly Of The Whale step appears again in form of a cave, and our hero quite literally has to enter it to find his treasure - the egg of a prehistoric style creature that the Jawa’s demand in order for them to give back his ship parts. However what blows me away (aside from the massive spoilery surprise from “The Child”), is that the creature is an homage to the oldest form of cave imagery known. The oft depicted cave bison from prehistoric times, like this one from Niaux Cave in France.

This is also the step known is Meeting The Goddess (step 7). This is the point where the hero experiences a love which is “all-powerful, all encompassing and unconditional” - all three of which The Child shows Din. Like the code that Lucas figured out with the first film in ‘77, this show is embedded with the steepest symbols of mythology to activate it in our DNA’s consciousness. Looking forward to more in the 3rd episode!

* * *

Chapter Three: The Sin

This one is so bad ass (directed by #DeborahChow) that it’s almost beyond words, and might actually be the best representation of the Temptation (step 7) I have ever seen. This step being simply about what material temptations can derail the hero on the quest. Anyways, wow! Mandos flying in on jet packs to save the day in a shot that looks right out of Dave Filoni’s ‘The Clone Wars’. Oh my Force! Anyhow, the significant Hero’s Journey element in this one is that Campbell claims trials come in threes. It would seem this is his second trial of conscience in saving “Baby Yoda”, and sinning against The Way of the bounty hunter code. Of course, the real sin here would be to leave a baby to abuse or even infanticide at the hands of his captors.

Finally, there is always a danger of taking Campbell’s very spiritual works and improperly distilling down his insights into the simple steps, as presented in charts. He wrote books. Lots of books. Where he constantly emphasized the whole inner spiritual point of the journey. He said, “It is the compassion for the suffering one that awakens the human heart.” The point of the Crucifixion. I digress. The Mandalorian’s heart was opened fully in this episode by compassion for Baby Yoda. I don’t expect this will be that last we see of that, but I can say that his armour and religious code will never be able to contain the love awoken in him.

This would also be the fist inklings of a future Atonement With The Father (Step 9), as Din has clearly rebelled against bounty hunter creed, and the one fatherly figure he thus far in Greef Carga. In this episode we begin to see his identity being split in two between two creeds; that of the Mandalorian way (to protect Foundlings) and that of the bounty hunter guild

Oh, and big congratulations to the first women director in Star Wars, fellow Canadian Deborah Chow. She seems like the obvious heir apparent Padawan to Filoni. This episode was that good.

* * *

Chapter 4: Sanctuary

In this episode, new director Bryce Dallas Howard delivers the most Lord Of The Rings inspired Star Wars yet. The Mandalorian arrives on the sparsely populated forest planet Sorgan, which is actually more The Shire, than Endor. Complete with a serenely Shire-like idyllic village, garden imagery, village radiers (that evoke Frodo’s vision of the Scouring of the Shire by Orcs), and a folky Shire like musical theme by the utterly brilliant composer Ludwig Göransson. What I love about the tone (a word J.R.R. Tolkien loved) of all this, is that it evokes a feeling of the Garden Of Eden. Which I would claim is perhaps among the oldest archetypes we have in mythology, appearing prior to even Egyptian myths in ancient Sumeria.

It seems to me that this part of Din’s tale serves to add layers to the already presented Meeting With The Goddess and Temptation steps. He is tempted from his journey to live a simpler life with Omera, a widowed mother. While I would assume he could find a future home and even state of oneness (which as Campbell states is the point of all this “The hero always returns to show their community they are one”) he has yet to complete his journey which would earn him a place, and return to “Eden.” For now, he is living in the state of ‘Sin’, and will have to heal this separation - which was symbolized when he briefly separated himself from The Child - before he can return to “Eve” and wholeness. Realizing that neither the village nor the Child would be safe there, the Mandalorian departs with the Child.

* * *

Up Next, Chapter 5: The Gunslinger

#the mandalorian #the heros journey #joseph campbell #jon favreau #Dave Filoni #George Lucas #DeborahChow #The Clone Wars

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glitterandrocketfuel · 5 years

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YBC Hot Take: Save Rock and Roll

Here we are, kids--the home stretch. Get a snack, because there's a lot to unpack here, and unlike John Mulaney, I do have time to unpack all that. Torn to pieces and lost in the wilderness, a soul-broken Patrick comes to the end of the line and it’s time to decide the fate of rock and roll.

Save Rock and Roll - Back To The Places That We Never Shoulda Left

The opening scroll (never NOT a callback to Star Wars in any modern media whatsoever) begins with a short summary: Our four heroes, violently torn asunder (pieces of Patrick, torn from himself) and laid to waste. Shades, neither live nor dead, where destruction or salvation awaits. An Empress of discord...hope in dire threat...Can it be saved?

Pete and Patrick, having murdered each other, lie in the dust. Patrick, having severed the final piece of his talent, his Confidence-Conscience, cannot survive (a house divided against itself cannot stand), and the only thing left is what’s in the briefcase.

Sirens scream in the distance, footsteps echo in the muted sounds of the cult's destruction of everything Patrick has worked for, and support he might have gotten or kept for his efforts. The montage includes brief shots show the Vixens beating up the random people who are tied up.

Bad Courtney--the Product of this manufactured, strategized, profit-driven, over-produced, surface-level, metrics-influenced corporate version of music (the "noise" masquerading as the silencing of noise) presides over it all, thinking she's the engineer and not the product itself (this is something Courtney Love has referenced in her own music, especially in context with women and women-fronted bands), looking smugly content with herself as if she's cracked the code for a formula of how to make the audience take what the industry wants to give it.

But wait--the briefcase isn't intended for her--it's intended for something behind and beneath the random destruction and senseless violence. The shadowy masked, hooded, and robed figures who are Out For Real Blood. And in the montage, there's a very brief flash of something lurking within. It's time to dip below the cut and find out if there's anything worth saving...

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Part I: Purgatory

Patrick finds himself on the same Hellevator as Joe in "Death Valley" where instead of the light, it looks like Patrick may be headed in the other direction. His guide--as from the "Phoenix" and "The Mighty Fall," the will o'wisp kid (fan) sent to tempt him, distract him, and trigger him, stands now at the controls as Patrick in his monstrous, empty form is faced with his final challenge.

Flashbacks from the previous videos show Patrick's parts being broken, beaten, severed from him, and the role this kid (fan) played in Patrick's descent. Only now, instead of the smug confidence in his role, this kid (fan) is cleaned up and wearing a suit (might we say he at least appears to be a little more mature--older and wiser, would one say?), and the kid (fan) is definitely looking a little more uncertain in his control over Patrick or his fate.

Because now is a moment of truth and a choice. Patrick, soulless and in limbo, is confronted with his losses and his transgressions (against his selves and his bandmates) and their consequences. The fans/supporters in bondage, the kneeling man helpless, and the knife on the pillow, waiting for him to cut down the sacrificial victim. To slay the last shred of hope, to cut himself completely out of that which he once loved, to sever the tie for good.

In the Infamous blog post, Patrick talks about going back to school to learn a trade. It seems a little over-dramatic given he already had experience producing and doing behind-the-scenes work in the industry (along with acting and VO work), he didn't need to chuck it all and go be a plumber, but it would have been a symbolic decision to abandon the industry altogether.

He even goes so far to take up the dagger presented so neatly next to him (is this a dagger I see before me?), ready to do it, aligning with the lyrics. Even though this study isn't devoted to the lyrics, they still do a bit of telling in this segment--"I need more dreams and less 'life'" - Patrick's been dealt a hefty dose of "real life" between industry changes and confronting his own shortcomings both creatively and in a business/performance sense. He's been beat down, kicked around, and abandoned by his infrastructure of support in spite of working so hard and putting so much of himself out there that it's time to throw in the towel and close the book on this phase of his career.

Maybe even this phase of his entire life and go run off and be a plumber instead.

But when you love what you do, that's not always an option or a solution.

On the elevator, where Patrick has to make his choice, he's given a cutting tool--a sharp dagger--and shown a helpless victim with the clear intent that he needs to kill it. The last, tiny spark of him that still wants the music, even after he says in that heartbreaking blog post that he has no desire to ever perform live again (and can we all pause here and thank Elton John that he overcame that?).

Patrick rejects the dagger, rejects the sacrifice, rejects the last dirty thing he'd have to do to kill his music for good. "I cry tears you'll never see, so fuck you, go cry me an ocean."

Because you are what you love, not who loves you.

There's still that helpless, hapless victim, waiting for him to deal the final blow...except even as he flashes to a robed cultist for a nanosecond's worth of video, Patrick rejects the severance of the last thread (Fall Out Boy never did break up) and it's that tenuous, gossamer thread that leads him out of the labyrinth of self-loathing enough to even forgive the kid who got him eviscerated in the first place (the fans who never forgave him for changing after "Take This To Your Grave”).

Letting that kid (fan) go, and that need to please the industry, the idea of what he should be like as an artist, a musician, a performer, is the choice that leads the elevator up to a place where the haze of disillusionment clears the scales from his eyes and Patrick...ascends.

Part II: The Divine

In this place, Patrick's bandmates--his Selves are waiting for him, alive and whole and made brand new--their scars healed, their bodies cleaned up, and their faces full of joy.

Patrick himself has lost the hook that did nothing but tear himself and other people apart. His hand has returned whole, and his eyes have cleared from their disillusioned, poisoned haze...and they welcome him back with open arms. Call back to "Alone Together" where Patrick is imprisoned in the chapel of the hospital (one foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door) and only has access to one of his critical soul-parts with a poor substitute for his hand and the insidious whispers of the outside world and his own self-doubt. But now and here, this is the Real Deal of Rock 'n' Roll Heaven.

Taking a left turn into Obvious Religious Imagery Territory, everybody gets guitar-pick Communion (Fall Out Boy-branded picks), starting with Pete (Patrick's Confidence, his musical Conscience), taking spiritual nourishment from the essence of the band, and drinking from the golden cup. A case can be made that only Pete and Patrick are shown taking this communion because of their creative partnership, but Joe and Andy are implied to be taking the same.

In a black-mass reflection, the cult members take blood-red communion (of what looks to be cut-up Swedish Fish? On one level, let's laugh, but on another, let's consider that candy may be sweet but there's no nourishment or substance to it, and it engineers sugar-high rises, followed by sugar-crash lows, much like the flash-in-the-pan careers of a lot of manufactured artists. So cheers to you, underpaid assistant who had to chop Swedish fish in the props department--your budget creativity held more visual significance than you thought). Their tarnished cup is filled with their own blood sacrifices.

Back in rock 'n' roll heaven, suitably cleansed and absolved through the Rites, the boys are graced (Patrick reconnects) with the Presence of the Divine.

Here, Patrick questions his faith, his experiences, the great mysteries of Why Things Happen.

Patrick’s actions are mirrored by the masked cult leader below, whose physical state seems to be deteriorating after the blood communion.

As the cult leader prepares to open the briefcase (strip away the container that holds the thing), Our Divine Sir Elton answers Patrick's doubts and formally grants celestial musical instruments to the boys, gifting each of Patrick's other selves the tool/weapon/talisman it needs to be fully realized: Pete's bass is the grounding notes of Patrick's Confidence in his music, Joe's guitar is the melodic sound that defines his Creativity, Andy's drumsticks keep the steady beat that points him in the right direction of his Integrity, and Patrick's own guitar returns to his hands.

In the clean and pure place where all music comes from (the Crucible of Creation), THEY JAM. With the Divine.

In a blinding flash of divine light, Patrick's broken pieces are put back together. He reconnects with the place where nothing else exists but the music--no bullshit, no business, no success or failure, not even an audience--just the pure joy of making music from a place that's honest and true to yourself (and with the people who feel the same way you do about the music you make together). It's important to note here that it's not about going solo or reforming the band, even though his solo time saw Patrick wandering in the wilderness a whole lot. It's about where you go and where you come from when you Make The Thing.

Patrick's solo career came from a place inside him where he put his all into it, but without an acceptance of all the places he came from. Where all the fuel came from him, but without the clean connection to his true love of music, it ended up depleting him instead of letting him be part of something greater. The need to prove himself, to commercially succeed, were outside forces that skewed his experience and created noise to disrupt his signal (not the music itself, but all the stuff around it).

Part III: Back To Earth

The band returns to earth--the cult headquarters, where the destruction is still going on. The adult music lovers (I see these people as music supporters in the industry that are focused on the music rather than the business--critics, journalists, venue talent bookers, etc.) are still bound and hooded (unable to break free or to see/hear anything but the noise and destruction around them).

Facing down the cult members, the band is glowing with divine light, shooting lightning into the darkness of the cult warehouse, taking down the cultists one by one until they blast the sign for the cult itself. The flag reflects the lightning out to the remaining cult members, turning their clothing white (purifying them) and bringing them to their senses.

A brief shot of Courtney, wearing an expression of sadness and remorse as if she remembers what she's lost, illuminated by the first light seen in the warehouse in ages as His Divine Elton-ness delivers his message once again and she finally hears it over the noise. This is why Courtney Love is a whole level of symbology on her own, folks.

But wait--all is not well. Because as Courtney is letting in the light, as the cult members see the light and hear the message, the secret cabal is finally unleashing what's in the briefcase. As Courtney Reborn rises, wearing a (really divinely stylish) white toga and taking up her guitar, the beastly form of Xibalba (the word refers to an underworld or city of demons in Mayan mythology, but here, Xibalba--named so by Pete in one of his tumblr posts--is the thing in the briefcase) rises from the smoke in the cabal's hideout.

The cultists, rapt, look on as the demon spreads its arms, mimicked by Courtney assuming the same position (crucifixion pose). Courtney is unarmed in surrender, while the demon is armed with hooked blades and it is the opposite of surrender--pure aggression--that drives the demon to cut down those closest to it, those who enabled its presence, set it free, unleashed it on the world.

As the cabal scatters once its leader has been beheaded by its own creation, the reformed cultists and the music fans begin to scatter in panic, while the demon looks on curiously and the band notices something amiss. Something that could not enter the divine place with the pieces and remnants of Patrick's spirit. Something that did not, could not, tap into the divine well where all creative art comes from, because it could only destroy.

Once the joyful parts of Patrick were all excised, nothing else remained except what used to be a deep and abiding love, a soul-connection that's been abused and polluted and no longer tempered by the joyfulness in making music. Raw talent directed by nothing more than monumental arrogance. Which has always been the monster Patrick has needed his band to keep in check.

In the chaos, with more and more blood staining their pristine garb, the very disgruntled band members/pieces of Patrick finally confront his own dark side. Because you don't create things in a vacuum. Sooner or later, they go out into the world again, where the forces of greed and celebrity and public opinion can rip a beautiful thing (the enjoyment of music between creator and audience) to shreds and cover it in viscera.

But they stand together, and this time, Patrick's got his parts back in order. His Confidence, his Conscience and connection to music (Pete), shoots the final lightning bolt that banishes the demon and his red hooks of severance.

And Elton John gets covered in far more fake blood than he ever signed on for.

Part IV: Exorcising the Demon

Patrick has stated multiple times that he was so arrogant about music in his youth, hell, their very first fateful meeting was when Patrick fell down a Well, Actually in Borders with Joe. Lucky for all of us, that one turned out okay, but the danger of wielding that arrogance without it being tempered by the deep and abiding love of music carried by his Confidence, the respect that's carried by his Creativity, and the honor carried by his Integrity is what led to the cult in the first place--confusing music with noise and silencing the music, not the noise.

The pressures of success, business, industry, and the changes in it took their toll on the band separated Patrick from the good things about creating music and fed the negatives--his stubbornness, the need to do everything himself, even when collaboration would have made things better and easier, his aggression and his temper gone unchecked that only drove him further away from the thing he loved. It drove wedges in between him and the people closest to him. Ultimately, Patrick had to try and fail in order to find himself again from a more honest place.

They had a short, but blissful, break in playing to the converts and true believers who never left, to remind them of why they do what they do. Patrick has reunited the parts of himself, sans the poison that ate into his connection with the place of creation and found his pure music again.

By leaving his pride and his arrogance and the external influences that warped his experience of making music, Patrick once again found the place where he gets his joyful music from, only this time with more humility and grace.

His brokenhearted experience led him to the realization that after he'd tried other things, branched out, exorcised his arrogance, his pride, and his dissatisfaction, he found what gave him joy in creation again, and that was making music with the band. Only this time, he knows the secret to where it all comes from isn't something that needs to be tightly closed inside a steel briefcase and locked to his wrist as if it's going to be stolen or depleted at any moment.

Because you can't silence the noise or cut through the bullshit to get back to what's important by staying above it or out of the fray. You can't make the music that reaches the people who need it without steeping in the scene and sticking to the gunky floors of the shitty clubs and rolling in the sweat and getting dirty. Now, Fall Out Boy is no stranger to ambiguous endings (lookin' at YOU, "16 Candles"), and covering rock and roll Elton God with blood at the end suggests that the divine spirit of rock 'n' roll might not be all-powerful or infallible, and that's why musical warriors are needed to keep beating back the forces of evil that will try to stuff it into a box and make it fit a marketable, narrow, easily-digestible, false-fronted, mass-produced thing.

But ultimately, this is about Patrick and his solo career and how he lost his way, found his band, and saved rock and roll, and he did that by making the music he loves to make, with the people he loves to make it with, and to their own standards, rather than to please others or chase an audience.

In a world full of "yes," if it's not right, then you gotta scream, "no."

If you're making something creative to please other people or according to what you think other people want, you lose something. If you're making something just to copy your own former self, you're imitating instead of creating. If you're chasing the past, you're just rehashing the old. If you aren't genuine about the thing you're making, you will always pay a price. if you're not making the thing you love, for the primary reason that you love it, then it will, slowly or quickly, pull your guts out, consume pieces of you, and turn you into a monster useful only as a weapon wielded by something else for whatever its purposes are, rather than yours.

You are what you love, not who loves you.

Going forward, Patrick will make his musical choices using his own moral and musical compass. Whether those choices please others or not. Whether the awards come or not, the music will come from a pure place inside him, woven in with the people whose talents he loves to make that music with. He has nothing more to prove.

#ybc hot take #ybc meta #peterick institute

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